Manish Chandrayan Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Following along Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 I continued the build with the empennage. All of the ribs and outer edges are machined very well and fit together nicely with minimal sanding. Thin ply doublers are well cut for the fin and rudder. I decided to add a ply pad under the rudder control arms like on the elevator to raise the mounting pads above the level of the fabric as the plane I am modelling is like this, I believe the Falcon prototype had the pads under the covering. The control arms are made up from 2 epoxy glass components machined from the sheet of parts supplied by Falcon and represent the full size components quite well. I have also had to make up the piano wire part for the rear tail skid and silver solder the foot on, the bracket was already cut, bent and soldered as part of the kit. The tail plane and elevator are not quite finished yet but they are at the stage where I can dry fit them and check everything is as it should be. Rudder and fin almost completed Piano wire tail skid post being bent and fitted to bracket Test fit of fin, rudder and tail skid Tail plane and elevator being built Trial fit of nearly complete empenage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Harris 1 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Ooooooo - its coming on lovely!! I'm getting withdrawal symptons from not working on mine! Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron thornhill Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Looking very good Peter and a very tidy workshop. I silver soldered a thinner gage piano wire from the bend to the skid plate to clip a restraining strap to. My TM has finally seen the light of day and have managed to fit it into the car ready for a club build competition tomorrow. I've gone back to not being able to put photos into my album, it says I have the wrong web address or something, I've never come across anything so difficult. Following your build with great interest Peter. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Ron, good to hear that your model is getting close to completion. I. would like to see photos or videos of one of these in the air. I am sure some must have been finished and be flying, but not from people writing build logs. Peter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 Completed the empennage. It was a bit fiddly but it all went together OK and it is all straight. The tail plane seat is only 1/2" wide at the back (13mm) so even a 0.1mm mismatch in the height on either side of the seat gave a huge angle to the horizontal. I had already made sure that the fin sat upright compared to the fuselage. There is a close up of the machined control horns and flanges in epoxy glass fibre that come with the kit, very realistic and a close up of the fin post and tail skid attachment points. A lot of work over the past few days has been closer to model engineering than what I have traditionally required for building my model aircraft. Empennage completed and fitted Epoxy board control horns Tail skid and fin post fitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Neat..very tidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Harris 1 Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Posted by PeterF on 02/04/2015 22:50:16: A lot of work over the past few days has been closer to model engineering than what I have traditionally required for building my model aircraft. Thats the joy of the Tiger Moth - there are so many details that without them the model is just that = a model, What a great Moth kit builds is a replica. Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Next tasks are all about adding features and details to the fuselage before I move on to the wings and have to swap plans on the bench. I have added the tail plane struts. An interesting find for any who are building this, the steel parts supplied with the model are truer to scale than the ones shown on the plan. The plane has two holes through the tail plane and a steel plate on the top side. The plans show a single hole and in fact the parts only have a single hole drilled. The photos below show what is in the box of parts. The struts themselves are made from 5/16" aluminium tube with a 1/8" dowel down the middle for extra strength and a balsa strip glued on the back and sanded to an airfoil shape The ends are squashed to attach to the mounts, very much like scale. This seemed better than following the plan to sand down a spruce strip with metal plates glued into slits at the ends. I have also added the fuel tank - the instructions state a 10oz Sullivan slant tank, but the plans show a 14oz tank and 10oz seemed a bit small for a Laser 150 so I went with the 14oz and it fits fine. I have also cut out the ABS moulded seat pans. Tail plane strut, not steel plate on upper surface - not on plan but supplied Detail of mounting bracket on plan Mounting brackets supplied with the kit Fuel tank installed Seat pans installed Seat pans installed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron thornhill Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 A couple of firsts, first seeing the light of day and first engine start up in the model ( throttle servo was reversed, interesting moment . The model weight in at spot on 17lb. I went to see Ian Perry the owner of G-AMNN and he would like to have a photo shoot of the pair of planes together at Shoreham. He also said it would be nice fly the two together at a private airfield, ha, not so sure about that, would the model be able to keep pace? Yes it would be nice to see/hear about other Fulcon TM builds. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Ron, Looking really good, it sets the bar for me. Building has been a little quieter lately, I have been finishing off some of the details on the fuselage. I have fitted the sheeting around the front seat, some details such as the oil tank mount, front step, mid longerons on the fuselage and the cable guides. The kit comes with the cable guides in epoxy sheet, but only 4 of them when you need 8. I cut the other 4 guides and bolted them together and drilled down the joint line for the cable. I have fitted these with 1 size smaller BA bolts, the kits comes with full size hex heads on the BA bolts, the smaller heads look better on the cable guides. Hardwood blocks are glued to the fuselage and drilled and tapped for the 8BA bolts with threads hardened by cynao as is the norm. Rudder cable guide Mid longerons and cable guides Front step and sheeting around front seat Oil tank mount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Glad to see you are on the build again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron thornhill Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Your build is much more refined. I did not need extra cable guides because the anti spin strakes would be in the way so the cables are a bit twangy. I like what you are doing Pete, a lot more skilled the I am. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 The model engineering continued with the construction of the cabane structure. This is one area where this kit stands apart with a much closer to scale design which replicates the function of the full size plane. The cabane struts are supplied as ¼” x ½” spruce sections, already cut to length and chamfered where the front two meet at the top. They also have a pair of accurately jig drilled holes at each end. The sections are sanded to oval shape, the ends tapered and slit with a hacksaw. Steel plates (from the laser cut sheet) are glued into these slots and 3mm carbon pegs (not supplied in the kit) used for extra strength and to make sure everything is the correct length. The fuel tank / wing support frame is again close to scale with two side frames CNC cut from epoxy glass board to which CNC cut ribbing is added. The rear support is an aluminium tube to match the scale tube, the front cross member is a pair of epoxy glass items, the full sale had another tube here but this is hidden inside the fuel tank. This shows some of the neat details built into this plan / kit. The outward facing lugs at the front for the wing attachment are built up from 3 layers of epoxy board with a trapped Nyloc nut mounted inside the 3 layers, the lugs come with different sized holes machined in so you only need a bit of sanding to make the one hole hexagon shaped to take the nut (although one had the hole offset and needing a bit more sanding and a filler piece installing). The bracing wires were then fitted (hopefully you remembered to install the clevises under the turtle deck earlier on). The wires were about 3mm long and were trimmed to length. In this design, the cabane struts do not have any torsional or side to side rigidity and the wires are fully functional, unlike other designs with struts from heavy piano wire which have rigidity built in from the mounts. These are the preformed stainless steel Swiss wires with an oval cross section and right and left hand threads in opposite ends. I did make sure that all the lower clevises were the same hand to make life easier. I twisted the wires where they overlap per the full scale plane, there will have the small leather circle installed between them. The turtle deck already had the holes for the flying wires CNC cut in place and these turned out to be correctly located. The plan calls for the front wires to be attached to the front of the cross member, but looking at some photos of my intended subject, these came out from the rear of the slot in the fuel tank, so I have copied scale location. Cabane struts ready for assembly Steel plates glued and pegged into struts Expoxy in cabane struts setting on plan Epoxy glass board cabane frame Cabane installed Bracing wires installed Pilot's eye view Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 The fuel tank comes as 1 main moulding for the whole body of the tank, which is quite impressive given most kits supply the body of the tank in two halves and two sides. A bit of trimming work is required to get the sides to fit. As the main body comes as two halves, it does have some moulding lines front and back that will need cleaning up and a touch of filler before painting. All that sort of work will wait till the end of the build. There are two CNC cut pads that make the rear attachment points and two CNC cut straps for the front attachment. The plan does not detail the bolting to the front straps, I decided to drill holes in the tank and mount bolts inside with the heads firmly epoxied in place meaning if required the tank is completely removable as per the full scale design. The instructions recommend Gorilla glue for the joints so I followed that. Remember to set the sides of the tank in a little to simulate the lip formed where the body and sides meet on the full scale. There was a bit of balsa scrap required to make a filler bor the gap where the front of the tank sits over the cabane framing. I also decided to move the front bracing wires back to the front of the cabane frame, I know this is not the scale location, but the kit is set up this way and it made the tank install easier. Dry fitting the sides into the main body Drilling the holes for the straps Glue bolts inside the tank for the front straps Front tank mounts Rear tank mounts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted May 9, 2015 Author Share Posted May 9, 2015 The fibreglass cowl is supplied in 5 parts, well moulded with only a few imperfections needing to be sanded out or filled later on. A note of warning if anybody else building the Falcon Models kit is following this. On the nose section at the bottom there is a recessed section of moulding (see the picture), I thought this was waste and sanded it off, it later transpired that the bottom of the cowl attached to this so I have had to make my own mounting blocks. The front cowl is glued onto a former, which is identical to the front engine mounting former and the two are then bolted together, making the nose easily removable. I have also installed the Laser 150 so I could make sure the front cowl lined up properly with the engine. I found I needed to lower the engine down 3mm to make things match properly. The piano hinge between the top and the sides is glued on using Gorilla glue as per the instructions. I will add some rivets or screws later as I am not sure I want to trust the glue alone, the instructions state to add 3 screws each side. I followed the instructions, which said to cut off the end two portions of the piano hinge and screw these to the engine mounting frame so that they attach the top of the cowl in place as well as the sides. The wire rod in the hinge is left longer than required and the end bent around like the full scale. In the full scale the end is fastened to the cowl sides to stop it sliding out in flight. I have drilled a hole in the engine mounting frame and bent the last 8mm or so of wire inwards and this passes into the hole so that when the side is fastened down in flight, the hinge pin cannot come loose. The bottom section is held on with countersunk 2mm machine screws into blind (T) nuts. I have not yet made the scale cowl fasteners; I just have a wire clip running through to keep it closed. While sanding all that fibreglass I have sorted the shroud over the front fin attachment point. Laser 150 installed The 5 sections of cowl as supplied Front section glued to former Partially completed cowl showing hinge arrangement Completed cowl right hand side Completed cowl front Completed cowl left hand side Shroud on front of fin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manish Chandrayan Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hello! Peter, Couple of questions for you please 1. The rear tank mounting plates as supplied in the kit are metal. However in your picture these look to be made from ply. Did you change it to play or some other material and how did you fix them to the moulded tank ? 2. Could you please let me know the source of piano hinge you used for the cowl? Would be using the same size for the luggage compartment as well? 3. Could you please post some detailed pictures of the hinge pin fixing? This aspect has been on my mind for quite some time and I have not been able to visaulaise how the pin is retained and does not slip off due to vibrations. 4. You mentioned you had to lower the engine line by 3mm, how did you do that? The kit has the engine line built in and lowering it would entail sanding the wooden bearers on which the epoxy glass plate is mounted. Once the bearers are glued in that is likely to be very tough task to accomplish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manish Chandrayan Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Ahh! and I forgot the last one 5. How did you twist the cabane wires? Did you anneal the wire? The way the wires are, I suppose these might snap if one tried to twist without annealing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Manish, I am more than happy to answer a couple of questions, your build log has been of use to me, so time for quid pro quo. 1. The rear tank mounting plates as supplied in the kit are metal. However in your picture these look to be made from ply. Did you change it to play or some other material and how did you fix them to the moulded tank ? I believe that Chris has continued to develop and change the kit as more have been bought and built, hence there are some subtle differences in various kits. The mounting plates for the rear of the tank were supplied in ply in my kit. I have glued them on using foaming poly-urethane glue, a brand we have in the UK called Gorilla Glue. 2. Could you please let me know the source of piano hinge you used for the cowl? Would be using the same size for the luggage compartment as well? The piano hinge has been bought from a DIY shop in the UK called B&Q, one of the large nationwide chains. It is nickel plated and each tab on the hinge line is aboput ½” wide and it comes in 1ft, 2ft or 3ft lengths. Looking at full scale photos, the tabs appear to be about 2” hence this is reasonably to scale. It is glued on with the same Gorilla Glue, but I will add some rivets for security. I will use the same hinge for the luggage door. 3. Could you please post some detailed pictures of the hinge pin fixing? This aspect has been on my mind for quite some time and I have not been able to visualise how the pin is retained and does not slip off due to vibrations. See the set of photos which show how the cowl top and doors are retained. The one shows the hinge pin just released from the wide frame. The part bent inward locates in a hole I drilled and when the door is closed it cannot rotate out so the hinge pin cannot release. Side door opened showing completed hinge Close up of front section Close up of rear section Hinge pin rotated 90° releasing the catch section from the hole in the side frame Hinge pin removed allowing cowl top to be lifted, 2 sections of hinge remain screwed to side frame Hinge glued to cowl top Hinge glued to side door and the hinge pin 4. You mentioned you had to lower the engine line by 3mm, how did you do that? The kit has the engine line built in and lowering it would entail sanding the wooden bearers on which the epoxy glass plate is mounted. Once the bearers are glued in that is likely to be very tough task to accomplish I have added a 3mm packing piece between the bottom of the epoxy glass plate and the engine mounting beam to lower the engine down. This is currently ply, but will be changed to 3mm epoxy glass when I next remove the engine. The photo shows these packing pieces. 5. How did you twist the cabane wires? Did you anneal the wire? The way the wires are, I suppose these might snap if one tried to twist without annealing I wondered hard about this for some time as I have the Swiss wires and they are too expensive to ruin. I looked at these and they have a surface oxide on them, they have either been drawn hot or they have been annealed after having been drawn cold. My guess is cold drawn and annealed as you would not want to have flying wires that have gone through a work hardening process and risk brittle fracture. Therefore, having made the decision that they have been annealed, it was simply a case of holding them in two sets of pliers about 3mm apart from each other and giving a 90° twist. In fact I have just checked the website and they are heat treated after forming (see **LINK**). Regards, Peter. Edited By PeterF on 04/06/2015 22:31:30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Whilst I am here putting bits up on the cowl, I have completed the catches in a scale like manner. 2mm holes are drilled through the side frames to take some 2mm pushrod offcuts that have had a semi circular end bent onto them. These are passed through the holes in the side frames and a length of spring bolted on to the pushrod with a nyloc nut. Some spacing pads have been added to make sure that the door shuts into the correct position with respect to the lower section of the cowl. They then work exactly like the scale catches. Catches cut from 2mm push rod, hot formed and silver soldered Catches with springs and nylocs, doors closed Catches with springs and nylocs, doors open showing spacers Door closed with catches rotated and locked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manish Chandrayan Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Thank you Peter, those answers are very helpful. Please ignore the typos that may have crept in my initial messages, some times the fingers act faster than the brain and eyes on the keyboard. Would it be possible to see some shots of the cowl bottom piece attachment? Best regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Manish, The bottom cowl is held on with 4 countersunk 2mm machine screws. The 2 rear screws thread into T nuts which are mounted to the ply pad which is the front section of the control tunnel. The front 2 screws thread into T nuts that have had the flange removed leaving the internally threaded barrels. These barrels have been glued into blocks of wood that have been glued to the plywood backing piece on the front cowl. These blocks are required, because as I noted above I sanded off the lower lip from the front cowl by mistake. The photos should add to the description. Peter. Cowl fitted showing 4 machine screws Cowl fitted showing T nuts in rear mount Cowl removed showing shaped blocks on the cowl front and T nuts in rear mount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manish Chandrayan Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I was more interested in the front attachment Now I get the idea on how all the pieces are held together. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 The undercarriage kit in the Falcon Models kit is functionally very close to scale and can be bought with all the silver soldering completed leaving very little work to be done by the modeller. I bought the tyres and wheels from Traplet from the Duncan Hutson Tiger Moth kit as these are very scale, better than the generic ones offered as part of the Falcon Kit. They come with moulded lettering and a pair of hub covers with the DH logo on. The hub covers were screwed on with the tiny tiny Mick Reeves screws. The ends of the main legs, the cross brace and the forward links all needed filing round at the ends to avoid clashes. The wheels I have are slightly thinner in the bosses than the length of the bolts, so I made the threads inside the tube deeper. Some of the holes needed opening up slightly to take the bolts. The fairings were added from balsa. The rods between the central cross brace arms and the rear mounting bracket are shown on the plan as using quick links, at the moment I have followed the plan and used Sullivan quick links that have a locking clip on them to make sure they can not pop open with landing loads, no way do I want some silicone fuel tube on them to keep them closed. I may change this to something more scale in the future. All that remains is trimming some of the bolts to length. Traplet wheels & tyres Initial assembly of main components Undercarriage mounted to plane Undercarriage mounted to plane Fairings added Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manish Chandrayan Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Peter yet another question for you. This time on aileron actuation. I was banking upon using a low profile servo with the round servo disc flush with the lower wing covering, but from all other logs I learn this is not to be due to scale wing thickness. I have been able to gather some idea on how you intend to actuate the aileron, but still wondering how things will connect up and especially what function does the aileron return arm perform. When you have some time would it be possible to post a schematic of how the aileron is intended to function. And how would you connect and disconnect the mechanism when the wings are taken off the fuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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